"Last week of middle school," thought Yugi to himself happily as he got dressed in his school uniform. Then I'll graduate and go to high school!" His smile grew larger as he walked to Domino Middle School.
He walked down the hallway, trying to stay out of everyone's way. Just five more minutes until his first class started. Throwing his backpack over shoulder, he began walking to class, only to realize that he hadn't seen Anzu that morning. "Wonder where she is? He shrugged. I'll probably see her in class."
Yugi trotted down the large, concrete hallway. The school's tall ceilings made it seem more like a castle, not a school. There were more hallways that split from the main: A, B, C, D, E, and F. The spiky haired teen made his way down to 'C' hall, and walked until he came in front of a burgundy metal door with a green tag titled "Mr. Prince" underneath. He sighed and took his seat by Joey and Tristan, in a group of four desks towards the front of the room. Algebra wasn't his ideal class to start the day but what choice did he have? Pulling out his book, he took out his homework from last friday and began looking over it.
"Mornin' Yuug", said the shaggy blonde diagonally across from him.
He smiled at his friend. "Hey Joey, how are you this morning"?
"I'm alright, what about you"?
"I'm alright, but I'll be much better when we finally get outta here! He began day dreaming about summer but remembered his homework. Hey did you figure out question twenty-one? I'm still a little confused about the order of operations thing. It just isn't making sense to me."
"I kinda get it, I think...What was that thing again? PPMD something..."?
Tristan who was sitting directly next to him rolled his eyes and took his homework. "Here, it goes like this...he wrote down PPMDAS and began walking Yugi through it. Yugi did his best to follow and understand but was soon lost. Why couldn't he be as gifted as Tristan? He looked down at his textbook. Still no sign of Anzu. It wasn't like her to be late, let alone absent.
Mr. Prince rubbed his stickery chin and slowly got up from the cedar desk. He was wearing his typical plaid shirt, wrangler jeans and cowboy boots. He was fairly thin and young, if one had to guess probably in his early thirties. His reddish brown hair looked like it was covered in mud from all the gel used to slick it into a combover.
"Welcome to the last week of school everyone! He seemed to be relieved upon hearing his own words. Now, if you would all pull out last Friday's homework, we can start."
There was a rustling of papers and unzipped binders as the class scrambled to find their homework.
When all was quiet Mr. Prince continued, "so does anyone have any questions"? Yugi raised his hand with a little shyness.
"Uh yeah, can we go over question twenty-one please"?
"Come on, really! That's like the easiest problem in the book!" A boy, Souzouji gawked. His blond greasy hair was a messy mullet. Despite being the class bully, he was gifted as a know-it-all when it came to mathematics and science. He was a solo man when it came to friendship. Yugi assumed it was because he smelled of alcohol and cigarettes. No one likes to be around that.
Mr. Prince ignored him and began working on the problem Yugi requested. All was silent in the room as the class watched the marker dance on the white board. Just then the door opened, clicking as it swung closed. Anzu walked in, her head hung a little low.
Yugi's eyes lit up at Anzu's entrance. All the classmates looked at her like she just killed ten people. She felt her every move being watched before she took her assigned seat next to him. (Can anyone relate?)
Mr. Prince continued to work, not appearing to notice Anzu's tardiness. He walked the class (specifically Yugi) through the problem. When everyone seemed to understand, he continued: "Todays assignment will be on page 748, numbers one through..." Yugi didn't listen to the rest, attention had shifted to Anzu.
Yugi glanced at his long time friend from the corner of his left eye."She hasn't said one thing all of class...I hope she's alright," thought Yugi.
While everyone else worked on the assignment, Yugi worked some confidence asked his childhood best friend, "is everything alright"? Anzu at first didn't seem to have heard him. After a moment she turned to look at him.
"No...she confessed. Yugi, I don't know how to tell you this, but I won't be coming to high school with you." Her eyes were becoming red with tears.
"Why not"? This wasn't happening.
"My dad got a better job in California. He and my mom thought it would be best if I moved before starting high school so I could start fresh and be at the same level as everyone else", she explained.
Tristan and Joey overheard everything. They couldn't believe it either. After all those years that they had all gone to school together was coming to an end. Would things be different now?
The bell rang, signaling class was over. Yugi walked with Anzu out of class.
